Northern Securities must stop making sales and offering advice to retail and institutional clients by the end of the year.
The order came Friday from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), which regulates investment dealers.
Northern Securities must restrict its activities to mergers and activities, research and corporate finance, according to the IIROC order.
Vic Alboini noted that the order was obtained on consent.
“We both agreed to the order,” Alboini said in an interview.
The company that performs Northern’s back office trading functions is shutting down its Canadian operations, and Northern hasn’t located another.
“Where is leaves Northern Securities is that Northern maintains its membership in IIROC and is focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finances and research,” Alboini said.
Northern has been in the news on other fronts.
In mid-November, IIROC had imposed a two-year suspension and penalties of $750,000 against Northern’s chief executive officer, Victor Alboini.
Alboini is appealing the suspension and penalty.
IIROC found that Alboini and two other executives at Northern broke rules regarding trading and regulatory compliance.
While IIROC said that Alboini had put clients at risk, Alboini argued that there was no evidence of risk because no clients suffered losses.
Under the order released Friday, Northern must inform all its clients that as of Dec. 31, client accounts will be restricted to liquidating trades and/or transfers out of the firm.
Northern clients can transfer their accounts to any other securities dealer.